Amanda Grange is the author of a series of retellings of Jane Austen’s novels written from the hero’s point of view: (Mr.) Darcy’s Diary, Mr. Knightley’s Diary, Captain Wentworth’s Diary, Edmund Bertram’s Diary, and Colonel Brandon’s Diary, and she is at work on Henry Tilney’s Diary. Ms. Grange kindly agreed to answer a few questions for the readers of AustenBlog.

Darcy’s Diary was the first book in your series of Jane Austen hero diaries, but it was not your first novel. Tell us about your previous novels.

My previous novels are all historical romances, usually set in the Regency period although some of them are Edwardian. If anyone wants to try them, Lord Deverill’s Secret and Harstairs House are both available in paperback in the US. They involve an adventure as well as a romance and they always have a happy ending!

What gave you the idea to start writing Darcy’s Diary?

I was rereading Pride and Prejudice and I thought, This is such a modern novel, it’s no wonder it’s still popular 200 years after Jane Austen wrote it. It has a fast pace, lots of dialogue, short chapters and it has the best – and most often quoted - opening sentence in the English language. The only thing it doesn’t have, which a novel written today would have, is a number of sections from the hero’s point of view. And then I thought, It’s such a strong novel that it would make a compelling book even if it was told entirely from the hero’s point of view, because he isn’t a cipher as some romantic heroes are, he’s a real person who has a life-changing journey to make before he can reach his happy ending.

These thoughts coincided with a calendar I’d been making for the events in Pride and Prejudice, as I’d been wondering when it was set, and because I was looking at the dates whilst I was thinking about Darcy’s side of the story, the idea of writing Darcy’s Diary popped into my head. (more…)

In honor of Books Are Nice week, an excerpt from Sense and Sensibility. Feel free to share your own favorites with us. (Feel free to use the Molland’s e-text for your copying and pasting convenience.)

Her letter was scarcely finished, when a rap foretold a visitor, and Colonel Brandon was announced. Marianne, who had seen him from the window, and who hated company of any kind, left the room before he entered it. He looked more than usually grave, and though expressing satisfaction at finding Miss Dashwood alone, as if he had somewhat in particular to tell her, sat for some time without saying a word. Elinor, persuaded that he had some communication to make in which her sister was concerned, impatiently expected its opening. It was not the first time of her feeling the same kind of conviction; for, more than once before, beginning with the observation of “your sister looks unwell to-day,” or “your sister seems out of spirits,” he had appeared on the point, either of disclosing, or of inquiring, something particular about her. After a pause of several minutes, their silence was broken, by his asking her in a voice of some agitation, when he was to congratulate her on the acquisition of a brother? Elinor was not prepared for such a question, and having no answer ready, was obliged to adopt the simple and common expedient, of asking what he meant? He tried to smile as he replied, “your sister’s engagement to Mr. Willoughby is very generally known.”

“It cannot be generally known,” returned Elinor, “for her own family do not know it.”

He looked surprised and said, “I beg your pardon, I am afraid my inquiry has been impertinent; but I had not supposed any secrecy intended, as they openly correspond, and their marriage is universally talked of.”

“How can that be? By whom can you have heard it mentioned?”

“By many–by some of whom you know nothing, by others with whom you are most intimate, Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Palmer, and the Middletons. But still I might not have believed it, for where the mind is perhaps rather unwilling to be convinced, it will always find something to support its doubts, if I had not, when the servant let me in today, accidentally seen a letter in his hand, directed to Mr. Willoughby in your sister’s writing. I came to inquire, but I was convinced before I could ask the question. Is every thing finally settled? Is it impossible to–? But I have no right, and I could have no chance of succeeding. Excuse me, Miss Dashwood. I believe I have been wrong in saying so much, but I hardly know what to do, and on your prudence I have the strongest dependence. Tell me that it is all absolutely resolved on, that any attempt, that in short concealment, if concealment be possible, is all that remains.”

These words, which conveyed to Elinor a direct avowal of his love for her sister, affected her very much. She was not immediately able to say anything, and even when her spirits were recovered, she debated for a short time, on the answer it would be most proper to give. The real state of things between Willoughby and her sister was so little known to herself, that in endeavouring to explain it, she might be as liable to say too much as too little. Yet as she was convinced that Marianne’s affection for Willoughby, could leave no hope of Colonel Brandon’s success, whatever the event of that affection might be, and at the same time wished to shield her conduct from censure, she thought it most prudent and kind, after some consideration, to say more than she really knew or believed. She acknowledged, therefore, that though she had never been informed by themselves of the terms on which they stood with each other, of their mutual affection she had no doubt, and of their correspondence she was not astonished to hear.

He listened to her with silent attention, and on her ceasing to speak, rose directly from his seat, and after saying in a voice of emotion, “to your sister I wish all imaginable happiness; to Willoughby that he may endeavour to deserve her,”–took leave, and went away.

Books Are Nice Week gives us a good excuse to put up a link to the Turning the Pages website at the British Library, which allows visitors to virtually turn the pages of rare manuscripts owned by the library. One of the manuscripts is Jane Austen’s delightful The History of England, illustrated by her sister Cassandra. Check it out!

This is a little creepy…a video about sightings of a ghost, possibly Jane Austen’s, in and around Chawton Cottage.

The video is obviously a few years old; when we were there in 2005, the quilt was no longer being hung on the wall (bad for it) and there has been a plexiglass guard erected around the writing table and chair.

Our Gentle Readers may or may not have noticed that the (extremely outdated!) list of books has disappeared from our right column. We’ve established an AustenBlog account at LibraryThing, which is a service at which you can catalogue your books and share with friends with similar interests. We’ve entered all the books that were on the list, and all the books that we’ve reviewed here at the blog; the next step is to catalogue the Austen-related books in our personal library, and we hope that our readers will remind us of any that we’ve forgotten. Just drop us an e-mail (austenblog AT gmail DOT com). We’re adding biography, nonfiction, fiction, paraliterature, everything we can think of that is Jane Austen-related. The genius is that the books will always be there; on our list, they disappeared after a year; and it will be much less upkeep for your hard-working Editrix! We believe the LibraryThing widget that is now in the right column refreshes with different books when one reloads the page; if not, we’ll try to figure out a different solution. In any event, it needs restyling, but we’re working on that.

If you’re a LibraryThing member, feel free to “friend” us! If you’re not a member, it’s free to join and catalogue up to 200 books.

We’ve also established a Friends of AustenBlog Group. We understand that LibraryThing is planning to add social networking capabilities that will, we hope, allow us to really interact with our readers.

We plan to continue to review books here, and hope to keep to at least a monthly schedule of new and upcoming book roundup posts (look for one this Friday). We’ll also continue Friday Bookblogging for any interesting links about Jane Austen’s novels or books related to them.

The Sampler Girl has two lovely Jane Austen-themed sampler patterns available on her website, At Home With Jane Austen and Return to the Sea with Jane Austen, both featuring quotations from her novels.

Alert Janeite Allison T. sent us a link to another eBay auction of a handmade adornment bearing a quote from Emma.

We’ve received a couple dozen (well, maybe not THAT many, but lots) of e-mails about this article, and we shrink a bit, knowing that (as we told one correspondent) politics/religion is the third rail of the Austen fandom. We don’t like it when any group claims Jane as their own, or compares “their” candidate to one of her characters, because part of the genius of Jane Austen, in our opinion, is that she appeals to such a diverse group of people. We have, in our personal Janeite acquaintance, deeply religious people of many faiths, atheists, agnostics, liberals, conservatives, and centrists disgusted with/bored by all of them; unfortunately, when you get into these subjects, normally reasonable individuals go ballistic and the very IDEA that someone else might have different opinions from them (maybe that’s why Jane Austen avoided those subjects herself), so generally, we wimp out and just ignore that type of article. But then Maureen Ferrarsing O’Dowd had to go and bring up Jane Austen in the New York Ferrarsing Times and we can’t very well ignore it. It’s made us a bit cranky and perhaps this post should be viewed under that caveat.

So there it is, go read it if you want. We just wonder why Ms. O’Dowd HAAAAD to use Darcy for her comparison. A P&P comparison is cheap, and easy, and obvious; it’s a kind of cultural shorthand for those who don’t have much culture, and it’s not like it’s really well-done, either. For instance, regard:

“The odd thing is that Obama bears a distinct resemblance to the most cherished hero in chick-lit history.”

Is Ms. O’Dowd suggesting that Senator Obama’s supporters are swooning over him like they swoon over the wet-shirt edition of Darcy, the sex god who launched a thousand smutty fanfics? That’s not really doing the candidate she supposedly is defending much of a service, in our opinion.

Why not compare Senator Obama to Mr. Knightley, a man of good principles who is concerned about helping the disadvantaged? Why not Edmund Bertram, a deeply religious fellow who, perhaps, concerns himself more than he should in his fellow man’s morality? Why not Captain Wentworth, a self-made success who is much admired by the general public? Because the P&P comparison is cheap and easy (unlike the Editrix). Like we said, Jane Austen’s work is much more universal than she might appear at first glance, or viewed through an individual’s personal filters; and she shouldn’t be co-opted by any particular interest group in our opinion, because it’s not playing fair.

Despite our ranting, thanks to Alert Janeites Julie T., Liz, Anna, “pink-panther3″, Laurie, and Laura for sending in the link.